Explain like I'm five · AI Security

What is Excessive Agency?

Excessive agency, told as a story about handing the apprentice the whole knife drawer and letting it take out anything with no approval at all.

from now on, take out whatever you needknifeflamephoneeverything is available, no approval neededinstead of approving each errand, the whole drawer got opened at once

The apprentice got the whole drawer opened for it.What used to be approved errand by errand got handed over all at once.

the note says call and pay — I will grab the phone toolphoneknifethe broader the access, the more a trick can do

The broader the access, the more a trick can do.The apprentice cannot tell a smuggled note from a real request either.

knifeflamephonekeyit passes with no approvalExcessive Agency = far more access or auto-approval than is neededalmost nothing is locked out of reach

Excessive agency means giving far more access than the job needs.Almost nothing is locked out of reach.

Grant only what's neededthe drawer stays locked by default
Get a second approval on big stepsa person takes one more look
Log every errandit stays clear what was taken out, after the fact
Lock the dangerous tools separatelytools like calling or paying get extra care
knifephoneonly needed tools, taken with approvalknifeflamephonekeyanything, taken with no approvalthe longer the tool list, the more there is to watch

This is the difference between proper access and excessive agency.The longer the tool list, the more there is to watch.

knifephonedesigning permission per tool is essentialknifeflamephoneskipping that design and opening everything is this statean agent cannot tell a smuggled note from a real one by reading alone — broad access hands broad power to that note too

Permission design is one thing; excessive agency is going past it.Broad access hands broad power to a smuggled note too.

In one breath

Excessive Agency = giving the apprentice far more access and automatic approval than the job needs.

Excessive agency describes an AI agent holding more permissions, tool access, or approval authority than its task actually requires. Because an agent cannot tell a smuggled instruction from a genuine one just by reading it, the wider its access, the greater the damage when it is fooled.

When grown-ups say it

Excessive Agency
Giving the apprentice far more access than the job needs. There is also an intro to this whole world. → The Kitchen That Takes Any Order
Agent
The apprentice that plans its own errands once given a goal. This is exactly who ends up with too much access. → The Parrot That Plans Its Own Errands
Tool Calling
Taking a tool out of the knife drawer to use it. The underlying AI concept. → The Toolbox
Per-tool Permission
Designing a different badge for each drawer slot. Excessive agency is going past this design. → A Permission Badge Per Tool
Least Privilege
Granting only the access that is actually needed. Excessive agency is exactly this principle left unobserved. → Only the Keys You Need
Sandbox
An empty room where a suspicious box gets opened first. A way to contain the space a tool runs in. → The Empty Room with No Windows
Human-in-the-Loop
A person stamping approval at the very end. An important errand needs this check. → A Person at the End
Observability
Looking in three ways — dashboards, logs, and the path a request took. Logging every errand belongs here. → Looking In Three Different Ways
Next story
Feeding the Dish Straight Into the Machine →
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